Autonomy on the horizon: comparing institutional approaches to disability and elder care

This article asks how people come to interpret themselves and others as autonomous given their multiple dependencies. We draw on a cross-case comparison of ethnographic studies with two populations for whom autonomy is both central problematic: elderly patients in post-acute care, young adults disabilities an independent living program. Analyzing the institutional efforts make clients “as possible,” we find that staff members at each organization formulate temporal project through ongoing calibration open futures, ideal pasts, situational competence. Constantly adjusting fine-tuning where time “really” is, workers arrange present dependence so contours future remain clients. In other words, they use markers produce recognizable subjects whose dependencies are momentary. Theorizing this enables us see more clearly all engage constant business “doing” autonomy, better understand role institutions producing selves.